Creeping suburbs

Lucas and I have been looking at photos to use in the prints we have been working on and I’ve been struck by the way the suburbs are creeping up on Yeomans’ early properties. I was born in late 1950 and the population is two and half times what it was then which in itself explains why sustainability has become an issue during that time and also why the art world is a very different place.

Just look at this early photo of Yobarnie, Yeomans’ first property

and this recent shot from Google Earth.

The figures are that Australia’s population in 1950 when Yobarnie was being developed by Yeomans was around 8.3 million and in 1975 when this project was originally proposed it was around 13.9 million, a 67% increase. Now in 2011 the population is around 21 million, a 153% increase.

Sydney’s population was 1.7 million in 1950 at which time Yobarnie was well out in the country, now in 20011 when it is over 4.5 million (165% growth) Yobarnie is probably closer to the geographical centre of Sydney than it is to the outer edge which in reality is probably the western escarpment of the Blue mountains near where I live and nearly 150 kilometres from the coast. Much of the land that is being swallowed up in urban sprawl was among the most fertile agricultural land in the country and crucial to food security.